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Pinterest

This is Pinterest’s minimum age. What do you think is the right age for this site?Share your thoughts

Pinterest is an online interactive pin board. You can create collections of pin boards using your own images and you can also re-pin things from other people.

What do I need to know about Pinterest?

We've spoken to parents to find out what they think about Pinterest. We've also asked children and young people what they think. Here's what they said:

Children’s views

What do children and young people dislike about it?

9% of the children and young people who reviewed Pinterest thought it was unsafe. The main things they told us they don’t like about Pinterest were:

People sending hateful messages about the things you pin

Adverts

Seeing inappropriate things

What do children and young people like about it?

The main things that children and young people told us they like about Pinterest were:

It gives you good ideas and inspiration for things you’re interested in

You can share things you’re interested in with others

You can use it for homework

Is content on Pinterest suitable for children and young people?

We asked parents and young people about the types of inappropriate content they’ve seen on Pinterest. The level of risk is based on the % of respondents who reported seeing these types of content. The ratings are: Low Risk (less than 5% of respondents); Medium Risk (between 5 and 25%); and High Risk (over 25%, or more than one in four).

Sexual

Medium Risk

Violence & hatred

Low Risk

Bullying

Low Risk

Suicide & self-harm

Low Risk

Drink, drugs & crime

Medium Risk

What are people saying aboutPinterest?

Girl, 13

“You can find creative ideas or DIY stuff. Pinterest has a filter when you first get the app so you can choose what you want to see.”

Girl, 15

“I can get some inspiration on this app and use it, but twist the idea to make it my own version e.g. I use this app mostly for drawing inspiration.”

Boy, 13

“I get inspiration from the pictures and I get to learn some stuff from it. I don’t like that they don’t have a safe-search.”

Mother

“I saw a picture of an extremely skinny female with advice on how to minimise calories. It led to a blog where this woman openly encouraged anorexia. There was also a picture of a woman lying on her back with her legs open, wearing only a pair of bikini briefs.” – Mother of 10 and 13 yr olds

Mother

“A good site to encourage interests in children. But, like all of the net, it needs some supervision for younger or vulnerable children.” – Mother of an 18 yr old

Mother

“Pinterest has some great content but as with all social media, it is public and some links are unpredictable or spam.” – Mother of a 16 yr old girl

Pinterest

"When it comes to a great idea, you know it when you see it."

O2 Guru's Top Tip for Pinterest

O2 Guru Paul says:

"You can hide your profile from search engines by turning on Search Engine Privacy in Settings, then Edit Settings."

Our O2 NSPCC Online Safety Helpline can help you to set up parental controls, adjust privacy settings or get advice on social networks. You can call us free on 0808 800 5002.

For face to face advice and support, you can also book a free in-store appointment with an O2 Guru here (even if you’re not with O2).

What's the right age for Pinterest?

13+

Pinterest says

This is taken from Pinterest’s own guidelines and is accurate as of March 2018.

14+

Our panel of parents say

Based on our independent panel of 2,049 parents, surveyed through YouGov in January 2018.

11+

Children say

Based on 2,059 responses from children and young people between November and December 2017.

12+

Net Aware visitors say

Based on 258 votes from visitors to the Net Aware site – you can vote too.

What do you think?

Adjust the slider and tell us what you think is the right age to join Pinterest:

Thank you!

We'll add your vote to the average rating.

Settings and features on Pinterest

Signing up

We asked parents how easy they thought it would be for a child to pretend to be older in order to sign up to Pinterest, and whether they had to verify their phone number or email address. Based on these answers, Pinterest has received a neutral rating for its sign up process.

Here are some of the things parents said:

“It was very easy but no verification of any kind. Got straight in after entering my email address.” – Mother of 7 and 11 yr olds

“Let me access all content after entering an email address and my age. Although a validation email was sent, it didn't need to be validated before I was on the site.” – Father of an 8 yr old

Reporting

We asked parents how easy they thought it would be to find ways to report unsuitable content or behaviour, and how to block people from contacting you. Based on these answers, Pinterest has received a neutral rating for its reporting and blocking process.

Here are some of the things parents said:

“It’s not obvious where to go to report or block.” – Father of 10 and 12 yr old boys

“I didn’t see any way of blocking other people.” – Mother of 7 and 9 yr olds

We also asked young people who reviewed Pinterest whether they knew how to report and block users:

Privacy settings

We asked parents how easy it was to change the settings so that your profile and account is private, and how easy it is to turn off location settings. Based on these answers, Pinterest has received a positive rating for its privacy settings.

Here are some of the things parents said:

“Other than creating a "secret" board, there didn't appear to be much in the way of privacy settings.” – Father of an 8 yr old

“Changing privacy I found easier than location settings.” – Mother of 7 and 9 yr old boys

We also asked young people who reviewed Pinterest whether they knew how to change privacy and location settings:

67% said they know how to change their privacy settings on this site.

54% said they know how to change their location settings on this site.

Safety & support

We asked parents how easy it was to find out whether Pinterest has rules or community standards, and how easy it would be for a young person to find information about keeping themselves safe on this platform. Based on these answers, Pinterest has received a neutral rating for its safety and support.

Here are some of the things parents said:

“It feels as though the onus and responsibility is on us not on Pinterest, to keep ourselves safe. Was surprised how much information was used by Pinterest without consent.” - Mother of an 11 yr old

“Looked at some safety info but found it very wordy. A younger person would switch off before reaching the end.” – Mother of 7 and 9 yr olds

“Standards and terms of use are under the terms tab on the website, but you aren't prompted to read them first, so I only knew what the terms were if I looked for them.” – Father of an 8 yr old

Start a conversation with your child about Pinterest

Having open, regular conversations with your child will enable you to really understand and explore the online world together, helping you to keep them safe online. Our tips and advice can help you start having these conversations.

I know the internet is a great place – I’m happy for you to use it. I just want you to be OK.